Saturday, May 5, 2012, will be the 150th anniversary of Cinco de Mayo.

As early as Tuesday, May 1, 2012, re-enactors and volunteers will start arriving to set up campsites for the “Mexican” and “French” troops which will be engaged in the weekend’s Battle of Puebla. The campsite location will most likely be at Camp Mabry in Austin. We are currently working on proposals to present to Camp Mabry officials, so that we can work with them on planning a successful - and safe - event. We hope to have school groups visiting the campsites on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Hotels, restaurants and other venues will be preparing for several days of celebrations, seminars, musical performances and other activities related to the re-enactment. Area universities, schools, museums, libraries and civic groups will be preparing displays and presentations for the arriving participants, history buffs, educators and tourists.

There will be a number of events - some staged as “military balls” - at various locations on Thursday evening to honor the high school students and their college mentors who have been working throughout the school year on gathering oral histories, videos, photographs, artifacts, etc., from Hispanic senior citizens and military veterans. The final products of their work will be on display. Some of the seniors and veterans may attend these events and have their photos taken along with the students who interviewed them. In some area school districts, parent groups may sponsor celebrations to “share the culture” with their students and friends. Some students will be honored for their projects, while others will perform dances, music or plays for Cinco de Mayo or related historical and cultural themes.

Also on Thursday night, there will be a private reception for the arriving re-enactors and their families. This is one of the most rewarding events for re-enactment groups. They are volunteers, they travel great distances to participate in these re-enactments (some flying in from foreign countries,) and a behind-the-scenes gathering like this is their chance to make friends and network with each other. Key personnel from the sponsoring organizations will also participate. 

On Friday, May 4, there will be a parade.  Current plans propose that the staging area be at Auditorium Shores, at the south end of the First Street Bridge. From there, the route will cross the bridge for a “courtesy call” at City Hall, where we hope the mayor will receive the troops and issue an appropriate Cinco de Mayo proclamation which credits Hispanics with sharing their cultural heritage with the rest of the community. The parade will continue to the Governor’s Mansion (where we hope the current restoration project will have been completed.) The parade will end at Woolridge Park, near the Travis County Courthouse. There, the horse-drawn carriages which have been in the parade will be stationed around the periphery of the park, while costumed and uniformed parade participants will pose for “photo ops” near the carriages and the park bandstand.   

Following the parade and the photo-ops at the park, adult and pre-certified youth re-enactors will proceed to Camp Mabry for a “walk-through” to familiarize themselves with the re-enactment area.

On Friday night, as spectators and the general public head for restaurants and entertainment venues, many of the re-enactors will represent their units at military balls arranged with various organizations in the greater Austin area.

A fully costumed-and-uniformed 19th century French army military ball will be held for leaders of re-enactment units and their honored guests. A few of the VIP’s might include officials from the hosting military units, the governor, the mayor of Austin, members of Congress, and possibly members of the diplomatic corps from both the U.S. and Mexico. A very limited number of the major sponsors for the week’s festivities will also be invited.

On Saturday, May 5, numerous “living history” campsites will be open to the general public.  Some may be in operation all day, but a few (including those at Camp Mabry,) will close at least an hour before the  Battle of Puebla re-enactment so that the re-enactors may prepare for that event.  Living history actors in costume and uniforms will be engaged in various educational activities, such as close-order military drill, cooking demonstrations, army “medic” demonstrations, care of horses, and - in some limited areas - rifle and cannon firing. This will be an excellent time for Boy Scout, Girl Scout, Campfire and similar groups to arrange visits to various units. (At one recent re-enactment, Cub Scouts were seen going through close-order drills with commands in Spanish.)

The re-enactment of the Battle of Puebla itself will be carried out in front of TV and video cameras. Some of the cameras will be concealed and/or camouflaged, while others will be mounted in overhead “cherry picker” cranes. A pre-selected, registered group of photographers will be allowed access to certain bleachers or scaffolds to provide coverage at a professional level for publication purposes.

The general public will be able to best view the battle on TV sets in the greater Austin area, and most likely throughout the rest of the U.S. and Mexico in selected areas where arrangements have been made with stations and networks in both Spanish and English. Most area sports bars, restaurants, hotels and retail stores will have access to at least one channel covering the event. The re-enactment at Camp Mabry will be a “ticketed” event, but the public will most likely be able to buy DVD’s from the video producers covering the re-enactment or from the institutions they represent.

The general public will have no trouble finding abundant entertainment choices on Saturday night. Many restaurants, hotels and other entertainment venues will be staging their own well-publicized “Cinco de Mayo” events. The re-enactors and their guests will hold some private after-the-battle “cast parties” on Saturday night.

Also, during the four-day festival:

• Authors and historians will be giving lectures and slide shows.
• Teacher workshops will be held at a number of area schools.
• Children’s storytellers will entertain youngsters at various locations.
• Folkloric dance groups will stage a number of shows in the area.
• Musical groups will perform. Many of them may be mariachi, marimba or jarocho ensembles. Some of the larger shows may be in stadiums or concert halls.
• There will be art and photography exhibits.
• Arts and crafts lessons will be available for both children and adults.
• Lessons in Mexican cooking will be offered.
• Audiences will enjoy stage plays by student, amateur and professional groups.
• There may be a “business expo” presented by interested firms.
• Many vendors will be offering souvenirs and other goods for sale.